Basant Panchami: day of divine love and the significance of the Basant season in Pushtimarg.

Is it just coincidence that the day of divine love in Vraj: Basant Panchami and the day of temporal love in the mortal world: Valentine’s Day fall so near to each other? This year Basant Panchami (Maha Sud 5) was on the 31st of Jan and today, just a fortnight later you have the modern version.

I draw the parallel to put the bhav of the Basant Holi days into a modern perspective. But, that is where the similarity ends.

The channelization of the energy of love, towards Shri Krishna liberates you forever. On the other hand, attaching the same to more worldly objects keeps increasing your days in bondage.

Basant Panchami is the celebration of ‘Divine Desire’ flowing permanently and incessantly towards the Lord of Gokul, Shyam-sundar Shri Krishna.

The day signals the onset of the season of spring. Just as the flowers bloom so does the gopi’s longing for their beloved Madangopal.

As per the kirtans,

श्री पंचमी परम मंगल दिन, मदन महोत्सव आज…and आई ऋतु बसंत कि गोपिन कीयो श्रृंगार…
Basant Panchami is the most auspicious day, for it is the great festival of desire…the season of Basant has arrived and the gopis have dressed in all their finery for the darshan of their beloved.

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Shri-kund in Kamvan is the 16th Baithak of Shri Mahaprabhuji. By Shri Vallabh’s Grace a spirit attained moksha here.

It has been a very busy week since the blog was uploaded for testing and some final changes. We made several modifications based on the feedback received from vaishnavs all over the world who reviewed the initial site. But I would like to stress that though it’s now in a better state, please do keep the flow of advice coming.

One request received from the majority stands out. In fact, it has been among the first reactions of almost all; and it is not even related to the workings of the website. While we patiently wait for everybody to review the blog so that changes can be incorporated as soon as possible, the sender of almost every message first demands to know the place where I am sitting in the main website photo!

So first let me put that down in writing, so that it is available to all and we can move ahead in our quest.

It is Shri Mahaprabhuji’s baithak at Shri-kund in Kamvan, Vraj. So, I think the curiosity for a vaishnav to know about it is quite instinctive. Let us discuss the significance of the Baithak here.

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